Crostini are wonderful little appetizers. These use slices of baked tomatoes which are extremely flavorful.

Tomato and Feta Crostini

Ingredients

1 baguette, cut into quarter-inch thick rounds

2 pounds roma tomatoes, cut into quarter-inch thick slices

Salt

Few fresh sprigs rosemary

4 ounces feta cheese, cut or crumbled into small pieces

Olive oil

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place roma tomatoes into a deep baking dish or two. Drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil and lightly salt. Bake for one hour. Ideally the tomatoes will have some slight carbonizing on their bottoms. Use a stiff spatula to scrape the tomatoes from the pan(s), being careful to keep them relatively intact.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Place baguette rounds on a baking sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven, keeping the toasted baguette pieces on the baking sheet, then drizzle (or spray) lightly with olive oil.

After the tomatoes and baguettes have finished, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small pan on high heat. Quickly fry the rosemary in the hot oil, about 30 seconds. Remove rosemary and place on a paper towel to soak up excess oil. You can save the excess oil, now flavored with rosemary, for another dish.

Place baked tomato slices on toasted baguette rounds. Add a few of the fried rosemary leaves to each crostini. Top each with a small amount of feta and season with ground black pepper.

Set oven to high broil. Broil the crostini on the top rack of the oven for three minutes.